To be in the Lovett family is to know the legacy of Edgar Odell Lovett, the founding president of Rice University. But to his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and the like, he has always been known simply as “Father Lovett.”
To Eliza Ozden, the great-great-granddaughter of Lovett, it’s one thing to grow up hearing stories about “Father Lovett” and his wife Mary Ellen Hale Lovett, otherwise known as “Mother Lovett.” It’s another to see their history in person, which is what her grandmother Mary Hale Lovett McLean made possible as part of her 90th birthday celebration in December.
Lovett McLean, the second-oldest grandchild of Edgar Odell and Mary Lovett, gathered her family from around the country to teach them more about their history, dating to the early 1900s at Rice.
“It's really amazing to see the impact my great-great-grandparents have had at the university and how it shaped what the university is today,” said Ozden, who worked in development at Rice a few years back and is now at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “I'm just very grateful to have a small piece of that.”
Children, grandchildren and extended relatives of Lovett McLean traveled to the Woodson Research Center in Rice’s Fondren Library to view memorabilia, correspondence letters, photos and more, while also touring the campus and visiting their namesake’s office at the top of Lovett Hall.
“She brought us here to show us our family Rice history, which is very special,” Ozden said. “I think it’s quite a privilege to have your family letters and pictures archived. Not a lot of families have that opportunity. It’s a beautiful thing to see love letters between your great-great- grandparents. We’re just soaking it all in.”
“I just decided that they needed to know their roots,” Lovett McLean said.
As family members flipped through papers, held up photos, looked through old wardrobes of clothes their ancestors wore and exchanged stories, Rice historian Portia Hopkins and Amanda Focke, head of special collections at Fondren Library, spoke to them about the impact the Lovetts had on the foundation of Rice.
“(Edgar Lovett) was sent by the board along with Mary Lovett on a world tour in order to brainstorm and frame the ideas that became the Rice Institute,” Focke said.
Following his hiring in 1908, Edgar Lovett was deeply involved in the planning of the university, overseeing the acquisition of a new site for the campus, the initial architectural planning, development of the curriculum and recruitment of faculty and students. Lovett announced his retirement from Rice in 1941 but stayed on through World War II, officially resigning March 1, 1946.
“They advised the board and collaborated to create the master plan for the university,” Focke said. “That is why we have the shaded walkways we have and the architectural style we have on campus as well as the academic vision and structure we have. Lovett was instrumental in the shaping of Rice.”
Lovett McLean’s daughter Elizabeth Lovett recalled going to “almost every” Rice football game with her grandfather Henry Malcolm Lovett, Edgar Lovett’s son, as a kid. “We didn’t miss a game,” she said, adding that she hopes this visit will spark an interest in her children that she has always had — in what “Father Lovett” accomplished and built on South Main Street.
“I've always been very, very proud of what he did — the vision and the traveling. And obviously we’re probably a little (biased) but our perspective is that he is Rice, and Rice is him. This is a very special time for my mom and that all of us are together and able to have this moment.”
Lovett McLean said she has fond memories of her early experiences, recounting her visits to Lovett Hall, where she would admire the trees in the quad from her grandfather’s office.
“I laughingly said that my father planned for me to be involved with Rice because he always brought me to visit Father Lovett’s office,” she said. “We would look out at the marvelous Italian cypress trees that were there. I mean it was just beautiful, and that’s the way I like to think of it. It was a joyous time.”
Lovett McLean said she is proud of how much Rice has grown since those days visiting campus as a youngster. “I think it’s fabulous. If you don’t grow, you die,” she said.
“(Rice) has been a great part of my life, and I think it has added a great deal to Houston. Someone was saying to me (recently) what high esteem Rice has in the college community throughout the U.S. now, and it is true. I think Rice really helped Houston grow.”